Spark Rising-- Build. Battle. Conquer.

$21,037

514

Spark Rising is a 3rd person action game infused with strategy, and sandbox creation. You build fantastical fortresses, defenses and troops for the purpose of war. The battle mechanic is inspired by Star Wars Battlefront 2 campaign mode.

STRETCH GOAL - $22,000

EVERYONE gets a vanity pet! All Alpha Prime Tier backers get upgraded to get an exclusive ENHANCED pet! This pet provides stats bonuses, which is very rare!

HOW TO PLAY

In the game's campaign, you play a Spark Bot whose prime directive is to build fortresses and fight back against invaders out to plunder rare resources. During the build phase, you can fortify your stronghold with all sorts of nasty stuff - turrets, traps, barricades and troops. Once the battle begins, you jump into unique class-based exo-suits to take down whole armies. There are multiple strongholds to fortify... but that's just the beginning...

As conquest mode unveils itself, you are assigned across the galaxy to fight back against increasingly more powerful enemies. You start to go on the offensive and conquer new territory, and plunder resources. Which raises the question... is your prime directive to protect, or to conquer? Just who programmed your prime directive and what are their intentions?

Our battles play out differently every time based on how you approach it. You need to factor in these key components into your battle strategy:

Your fortifications can be used to weaken the advancing army, create diversions, and provide cover for you

Enemy AI can change objectives while in mid-battle, and you'll have to contend with different races and creatures

Exo-suits empower you with unique class-based firepower and abilities

Destructible terrain changes the landscape and your battle plan

Before each battle begins, you have the opportunity lay out turrets, build fortifications, and even assign troops to patrol different parts of your fortress. You'll receive intelligence on the type of enemy you'll be facing, which gives you a distinct advantage since your numbers are smaller.

If you know the enemy & know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles - Sun Tzu

Once a battle begins, your focus will primarily be on fighting, and controlling the flow of warfare. Enemies can come in from multiple directions, so skirmishes can develop anywhere on the battlefield. Your defenses are often overwhelmed, so you have to turn the tide by going into combat where it's most needed. Several waves of enemies can attack you from both the ground and the air, and you have wipe out all enemies or lose control of your fortress.

Once you go on the offense, the tables are turned. Now you can build up a massive army of troops and go on the attack taking control of other fortresses across the galaxy. Playing on both defense and offense adds a great deal of variety to the gameplay.

The galaxy is filled with numerous hostile foes from war-bent mechs, to bio creatures that roam undiscovered habitat, to even undead creatures. Such diversity in enemies means you need to use different tactics to deal with them.

Enemies has unique stats, attack abilities, and distinct AI, so depending on what mix of hostiles come at you, you have to change up your strategy. For instance, fiery creatures roaming a lava asteroid belt have immunity to ice based attacks, so you have to use other types of offenses to take them down.

A molten asteroid inhabited by nasty lava creatures.

THE POWER OF EXO-SUITS

Say hello to GOLIATH!

While in battle, you can jump into various exo-suits, which provide unique class-based firepower and abilities.

For instance, a tank exo-suit is designed for close range combat, and has AOE capabilities for swarming enemies. It has a land rush ability that allows for short bursts of movement, which is needed because its mobility is compromised to due heavy armor. Its fortification capabilities, and troop command capabilities also differ from other exo-suits, so you want to switch out during battle based on how enemies are changing its objectives.

CONQUEST MODE - 4X STYLE

As you gain in power, you can go on the offensive. Conquest mode opens up, and a new galaxy map appears which introduces 4X strategy game elements. Build your empire as you explore undiscovered territory, exploit rare resources, and conquer other players and their fortresses. You can then see how you stack up against other players. But forewarned, as you gain in power and conquer more territory... the opposition will start to take notice, and you just may find yourself being the dominant threat that others are trying to take down. More details about Conquest Mode is here!

CREATIVE MODE - BUILD WHAT YOU LIKE

Make that! No wait, build that! No wait, how about this!

Fancy more creative freedom to build whatever you like? You can thanks to our Creative Mode. Our tools can convert your creations into in-game objects so that you can play around with them, attach them to animations, and even change out parts. You’ll eventually face off against an endless variety of enemies thanks to what other users create.

Yeah, you can build that

While we were clearly inspired by other construction games, when it came to creating environments and we wanted to take it one step further. Not only can you lay down block by block to build things, you can create and place whole structures at a time, making it much easier and faster to construct a full environment.

UPDATE - MINECRAFT IMPORT TOOL

We want to make it easy for you to import your voxel creations from other games and programs. So we have planned a Minecraft Import Tool as well as support for Qubicle, the popular voxel creation program! Check out this video for details!

We make it wicked easy to share your creations. You can even earn rewards for it. If people love what you created they can contribute gems, which can be used for all sorts of exclusive in-game bonuses, free gaming swag, and even free games. More details about this here!

REWARDS TIERS DETAILS

UPDATE! All $10 backers now get ALPHA ACCESS!

All ALPHA PRIME BACKERS automatically get upgraded to the WICKED LOOT TIER!

The Beta Prime Tier grants you access to the ALPHA + BETA version of the game (NOTE: This is a change we made to the campaign, and the the latest and most accurate.) ETA: Alpha coming Q4 2013, Beta coming Q1 2014. Play the game long before commercial release. You also get a digital copy of an artbook, soundtrack, and wallpapers. Plus get a copy of our hit game Munch Face on PC /Mac, an arcade mashup, which up to now was only available on Ouya.

ALPHA PRIME + WICKED LOOT TIER

The Alpha Prime Tier is now upgraded to the Wicked Loot Tier! This grants you access to the ALPHA version of the game, which is planned for Q4 2013. This allows you behind the scenes access to very early builds of the game so you can provide significant feedback to game design. You also get an exclusive exo-suit that provides bonus stats. You also get a bonus copy of the game that you can gift to a friend! And you get all the goodies from the Beta Prime Tier!

BONUS! You get exclusive loot including an in-game pet, a loot booster, and a bonus chest of gold! The in-game vanity pet is exclusive to Kickstarter backers, and you can pick from several types available. The pet follows you around like any loyal pet does. The boosters provide an increases to how much loot you’ll find and can be infused into any exo-suit you chose. As for the gold... it's gold!

QUBICLE TIER

This special edition version of Qubicle is just for Spark Rising! Quibicle Constructor is the most popular voxel creation tool out there, and now you can import your creations from Qubicle into our game. This software normally sells for $40, so our special tier makes it possible to get the game, plus a bunch of bonuses, and Qubicle for just $45! What a steal! If you want to learn more about Qubicle, stop by the Minddesk site. This is for PC users only.

NOTE TO EXISTING WICKED LOOT TIER:

Due to the consolidation of the Alpha Prime + Wicked Loot Tiers, you have the option to downgrade to the Alpha Prime Tier which now provides the same benefits. Or if you prefer, you can stay at the Wicked Loot Tier, and we'll throw in something extra after launch (Oooh, mysterious!)

LOYAL FAN TIER

This tier provides physical goods that will be specially created for you. A limited edition t-shirt, a hardcover artbook, and a Spark Rising plushie! Because you are automatically granted full access to the alpha and beta tiers you get a special shout out in the game.

SHRINE / VIP / MASTERMIND TIERS

Dream of designing a video game? Now you can! These tiers are for those who aspire to create something cool and be featured in our game. Sure you can create whatever you want in the game, but with these tiers your creation are the central part of the story. You get to take part in some of our Skype game design sessions, come up with ideas of what you'd like to see in the game, and even sketch out your own creatures, fortresses, and campaigns. We'll do our best to guide you and build to your specs. Your name will be featured as part of what you create, and everyone will get to enjoy your creations.

We’re turning to Kickstarter for two reasons.

FINDING EARLY ADOPTERS FOR FEEDBACK - We want to connect with a core group of gamers who love this concept. We want to gather feedback and guidance throughout our development. You will have a major role in how we create the game. We have already been proactively sharing our development plans on a weekly basis on our website, and we’d love for you to have input into key features.

FUNDING TO FINISH THE GAME - Second, we need to raise additional funding to finish the game. While we been able to leverage existing technology we built, and we kept costs low as team members have foregone their typical salaries, the immediate cost for specific features means we need an infusion of capital to get us there. That includes hiring a composer to create original music, getting additional art to be able to finish up our campaign mode, and upgrading to professional versions of the software we use so we can dramatically improve the visuals. We want to set the bar higher for this game, and your financial support is needed so that we don't cut the corners. We been able to cover much of the cost for development so far, and we need your help to make the game even better!

Oh yeah, can you also help us get greenlit on Steam! Thx!

GAME DETAILS

3rd Person Strategy Infused Action Game

Launch Date: Q2 2014

Platforms: PC & Mac for launch

Game Modes: Campaign, Conquest, Creative

Single Player + Co-op

The Spark Rising Team. Wicked Geeky.

The Wicked team has been creating games for over 35 years combined. We all live in the Bay Area, the heart of Silicon Valley. Past places we’ve worked at include Sega, Konami, Raptr, Flying Wisdom, Bethesda, Yahoo, and Eidos. We’ve worked on both big and small games over the years, but ultimately we made the choice to go indie because there are new ideas worth exploring especially around user generated content.

Our team of 5 is truly a cross disciplined team. The team was founded by John Master Lee, who had worked at an executive level at such companies as Sega, Raptr, and Konami/Hudson, and has extensive gaming business experience to ensure we spend your money wisely! Stan, our lead programmer, has a background in complex stuff like AI and mathematics, and is skilled at creating game engines. Our lead artist is highly versatile and can create concepts, 3D art, textures, and more. Our lead platform engineer has built similar user generated content platforms for Yahoo and Raptr.

All of the team members have either taken no salary or a dramatically reduced income to pursue their dreams of making this game, and are dedicated to creating a game that is worthy of your attention.

Risks and challenges

There’s no doubt that game development is highly risky. It’s like black magic in the way that you combine technology, game design, art, and a solid business model to somehow conjure up FUN. If any one of these fall short, then the project is at risk of cost overrun.

That is why we didn’t begin the project until we had a team fully formed, the technology defined, and our schedule hashed out. Our team has experience seeing games through to finish, as well as winning awards for our creations. We know how to keep a project on track, within budget, and ultimately solve the mysterious “fun” factor.

In addition to having a founder who has years of experience leading game development efforts at established game companies, we have a handful of advisors who guide us ensure we’re on track. These advisors include: Henk Rogers, the co-founder of Tetris Inc, Niero Gonzales, founder of Modern Methods/ Destructoid, and Lee Woon Jae, head of Bethesda Softworks Asia.

FAQ

ALL +$10 BACKERS GET ALPHA ACCESS TO THE GAME!
In addition, all ALPHA PRIME TIER backers will get automatically upgraded to the WICKED LOOT TIER!

As we consolidate the Alpha Prime Tier with the Wicked Loot Tier, if you currently are a Wicked Loot Tier backer, you can either decide to stay there and help support us (mucho thanko!), or you can downgrade to the Alpha Prime Tier (which is cool. We won't feel slighted... much:) If you decide to stay at the Wicked Loot Tier, we'll provide some fun extra bonus sometime later.

WHY SO GENEROUS?

One of the primary objectives for our Kickstarter campaign was to ensure we had a large enough pool of gamers to provide feedback for our game during the alpha stage of development. In addition, since many backers are getting several copies of the game, and wanted to play with their friends, we wanted to help foster that. Right now, based on our current Kickstarter trajectory, we have enough to room to invite all backers into the alpha program.

One of the things we debated long and hard when putting together our Kickstarter was how to structure our tiers. We initially set it up like most campaigns, where the beta and alpha access were much higher priced tiers. That just felt a bit backwards to us, since it doesn't properly reward all early supporters. But by the time we wanted to do something about it, we already pulled the trigger. You can't change tiers once a Kickstarter launches. But hey, we found a work around!

Our goal is to make sure every tier of user gets real benefits since you all were the first to believe in us. Having a more active community during our alpha stage will make the experience better for all of us!

While we'd love to see our game on as many platforms as possible one day, as an indie team, we have to make sure we stay focused so we don't bit off more than we can chew. True, we are developing on the Unity 3D engine, which is expected to have support for Xbox One, PS4 and Linux, at this stage we don't plan to tackle these until we launch on PC and Mac first.

As for Ouya, until we have the game optimized and know whether it can run on an Android based micro-console, we didn't want to commit to it just yet.

If we hit our goal, we may consider stretch goals as an option to reach additional platforms.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $10 or more
About $10

ALMOST EARLY BIRD TIER: Due to popular demand, it's back! Early Bird Round 2. You get a copy of our final game on PC or Mac! This is a limited quantity tier and is not considered part of any other tier. + Supporter Tier rewards

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $25 or more
About $25

BETA PRIME TIER: You get Beta access to the game when it becomes available. In addition, you get a digital artbook, digital soundtrack, and digital wallpapers. Get a FREE copy of our game Munch Face on PC / Mac! + Co-op Tier rewards

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $35 or more
About $35

ALPHA PRIME TIER: You get Alpha access to the game when it becomes available, so you can provide feedback and shape the design of the game. Get an exclusive exo-suit to use in battles. + Beta Prime Tier rewards

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $45 or more
About $45

QUBICLE TIER: You get a copy of Qubicle Constructor! This Spark Rising special edition version of Qubicle is ultra limited (the comparable version normally sells for $40.) Create amazing voxel stuff, and then import it into our game. + Alpha Prime Tier rewards

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $75 or more
About $75

GRAY EGGS TIER: This special tier, inspired by an early backer, gets you special recognition in the game. It's an Easter Egg that other gamer have to discover. Let's have fun with this! + Wicked Loot Tier rewards

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $135 or more
About $135

LOYAL FAN ROUND 2 TIER: Due to the popularity of the Loyal Fan Tier, we're creating a new tier for those who are a tad late to the game. You get physical collector items: A limited edition t-shirt, hardcover artbook, and voxel plushie. Get special recognition in the game credits. + Wicked Loot Tier rewards

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $500 or more
About $500

VIP TIER: You can create something core to any game mode, whether a campaign objective, boss, or fortress. You design it, we'll make sure it looks ready for prime time! Get game design credit. + Loyal Fan Tier rewards

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $2,250 or more
About $2,250

STHUMP TIER: We are going to create a new exo-suit for everyone to play with. It can TRANSFORM like a Macross Robotech Suit Thingie. Thing. You can battle it out, and then transform and fly around. That sounds sweet as sh*t. Valkyries!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $3,000 or more
About $3,000

GREAT GUARDIAN TIER: You become the guardian of the last remaining planet in the galaxy! The last bastion of hope, peace, and prosperity. When people stop by, they will be greeted by you as you offer them challenges to complete. Completion of said challenges allows people to help grow the planet back to its once glorious bloom. And you can impart a double rainbow. And you get 10 copies of the game you can gift to friends + Loyal Fan Tier rewards

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $5,000 or more
About $5,000

MASTERMIND TIER: You become the ultimate villain in the game! Every player must stop your galactic invasion in campaign mode, and feel your wrath as you unleash your war machines and creatures! You not only get game design credit, you are part of the game! And you get 10 copies of the game you can give to friends to gloat about your galactic conquest. + Loyal Fan Tier rewards